some of you need to slow down and read what people really say, I totally agree with smartdog…booing players during a game is one thing..but this is the all star fantasy draft…its about the best of the best coming together to play hockey…and the way the Sens fans acted was totally classless and they looked like fools…these are fans that are always bragging about how they are the class of the NHL, and they are soooo much better than those leaf fans..well last night they showed their true colors…something I have known all along…I really felt bad for Loupul…and you could even see the look on some of the other players faces..like common “enough already” but that’s the Sens fans in a nutshell…total and complete hypocrites…they bash Habs fans for booing their own players yet they booed Pizza head last year to the point were he wanted to be traded, this year its Gonchar..they are the best fans..but you can get tickets to any game anytime…and half the building is fans of the other team…

And yeah, Lupul was actually joking about it in an interview today. But he looked frustrated and weirded out at the time. Good on him for being cool about it. More credit to him, I don’t care what team he plays for.

Boone calls Manchester United “the Bruins of the Premier League.” Sheesh. I was born in Greater Manchester (Stockport) and have supported United since I was a wee lad when football resumed after the war in 1946. Before me, my dad was a regular at Old Trafford.

When we emigrated to Canada in 1953, I knew which NHL team I would support soon after my arrival: the Montreal Canadiens. I don’t support teams that comport themselves like the Bruins. The two are also dissimilar in terms of their records. United have won a record 19 top level league titles and a record 11 F.A. Cups, the Bruins only six Stanley Cups.

In those days, there wasn’t the bitter edge to the rivalry between United and Liverpool. That was only partly because Liverpool were not even in the top division for most of the 1950s. Fans of my generation and my father’s respected opponents who played good football. And we always had a soft spot for any Lancashire team, including Liverpool, as long as they were not playing against United or otherwise threatening United’s position in the league. At one point Kenny Dalglish was my favorite player to watch, and later on it was John Barnes, both of them Liverpool stars.

I won’t insult Liverpool by calling them the Bruins or the Leafs of the Premier League. I have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of football than that. Liverpool, too, have a great record and are a great club. They’ve won more European club championships than any other English club, five (to United’s three), as well as 18 top level league titles and seven F.A. Cups.

Have some respect for Manchester United as a great English club, Mike, and if you can’t, then stick to ice hockey.

I still think one of the funniest episodes of the Simpsons involved Springfield getting the World Cup. The Springfield crowd were wildly pumped until they saw the game simply involved some players kicking a ball to each other. Whatta game!

I don’t think he meant it like that, Peter. Like myself, he’s a “MAJOR Reds fan”, as he put it, and I feel he talked from a rivalry standpoint, certainly not an on-pitch or off-pitch conduct standpoint.

I’m a Montreal fan, but I don’t ACTUALLY hate Boston. It’s just a fantastic rivalry. Likewise, I think Manchester United is a beyond fantastic club, with arguably the greatest manager in the history of the game, and I recognize and respect their professionalism, which they have in spades.

I’m a Liverpool fan, and Man U are the “Bruins” to me. It’s England’s biggest rivalry in England’s biggest sport. That’s how, I think, the majority of cool-headed fans look at it.

HERE’S A BIT OF HUMOR FOR MY FELLOW HABS FANS TO HAVE A GOOD LAUGH AT! THIS IDIOT OF A MORON LEAFS FAN ON ANOTHER SITE HTR (HOCKEY TRADE RUMORS) HAD THE GALL AND audicity TO SAY THAT BRIAN BURKE IS/WAS A BETTER G.M. THAN THE LEGENDARY SAM POLLOCK! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA
WHAT A LAUGHER1 I KINDLY REMINDED HIM THAT BURKE COULDN’T TIE SAM’S SHOES AND THAT MR. POLLOCK WAS THE BEST G.M. IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME PERIOD END OF STORY!

Not sure if this has been discussed… but I have to say that watching the video and seeing the Sens fans booing Lupul every time he tried to speak, all I can think is what a bunch of classless yahoos. The All Star week-end is supposed to bring the league’s best players together as friends. It’s a laying down of arms for the benefit of the fans. And Lupul, who seems like a decent guy, who isn’t a dirty or disliked player, who’s gone through a TON of adversity, has to put up with a bunch of idiots booing at him every time he tries to speak.

Classless. And I didn’t watch the the show so don’t know if this continued but if it did, and Alfredson didn’t do anything than he’s classless too.

Exactly!
@SDog is it only classy when they boo Gomez, or Breezer?
Sens fans booing a member of a hated rival team gets your goat, but you love it when Hab fans boo their own?
c’mon, really?
sounds to me like:
hollow high-horsed hab hypocrisy

—————————————
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
— Augustine of Hippo

Well A) I’ve never said it’s okay to boo the Habs though… B) if you read what I said (it seems you didn’t) I said that it bothers me because i. this week-end is a lay-down-your-arms week-end for the benefit of FANS and ii. Lupul is a good guy who’s faced a lot of adversity. A boo or two up front would be fine. But to keep booing this guy is disrespectful of why he’s there.

You don’t have to agree… but don’t talk trash to me if you have to make up sh$t to do it.

That sure wasn’t me. Chara is one guy I’ll always have trouble respecting. He did what he did to patches and then lied over and over about knowing who it was, where he was… such bullshit from a team Captain is even worse.

After The Chara hit – He ran & hid in the team bus because he did not want to face the media after the game. Boston’s PR guy went & got him from the bus making him answer some questions (Afterall he is The Team Captain of an orginal six team)although not very convincingly lotsa BS in his answers…….

Actually Gomer has come back and played some decent hockey. Actually shooting the puck and better him than PK bringing up the puck on the PP. Not saying he’s worth his salary but if continues to play as he has it will definatly help us in our pursuit of a playoff berth. Now just waiting to see when White comes back as he’s next on the list. As I also said early in the year don’t expect AM back this year. Dr Baddanoff had his nurse Natasha show the Goat someone else’s knee and told him “everything is fine”. Soviet doctors do this all the time.

This all star silly stuff just goes to show how the NHL hockey fans are getting fleeced from coast to coast by the so called NHL.

There are only 12 to 15 teams in this league that can dress a quality product worth watching. And even everyone of them has 5 or 6 guys that are AHL caliber filling holes in the line up.

I am afraid this once great hockey game and spectacle we used to watch many years ago will never be seen again by the new generations. So very sad that the money spent on this so called elite hockey, is only half the product it once was. People are starved to see hockey played the way it once was and instead they are being fleeced with fancy marketing corporations.

I was referring to the game in itself being played much differently as many years ago.
This hockey game of today is not even close to the pure play of the game many years ago. It was much more of a team game, much more puck movement from tape to tape, more three way passing plays to score. Today, much more bull work and muscle, harder shots blasting through, rather than pure passing plays in front.
I could go on and on. The game has changed for sure, and for me, not for the better. Injuries are another tell tale disgrace of the new game. It will continue to deteriorate unless people stand up and make a noise with their wallets.

The recent rash of injuries in professional hockey has caught the attention of Gov. Gen. David Johnston, who says that fighting — like high-sticking and head-shots — shouldn’t be part of the game.

In an interview with Power & Politics host Evan Solomon, conducted on skates on the rink outside his Rideau Hall residence, Johnston talks about his love of hockey and its place in the psyche of the nation.

“Hockey I think is a wonderful … tribute to Canada. It’s a game that’s vigorous, it is our outdoors, we take advantage of winter.

“I call it the beautiful game because it is the fastest game in the world,” said Johnston. “The intricacy of the play … combines both a virtuosity of individual efforts but always as part of a team.”

Johnston was an all-star player himself for Harvard University after playing on a 17-and-under team in Sault Ste. Marie with future NHL stars Phil and Tony Esposito.

Asked about a “cultural war” some see in hockey now between a tough style of play that includes fighting and the skilled part of game, Johnston was diplomatic but clear that he prefers the skilled game.

“What other sports say [fighting] is a part of the game? Least of all in this game, because the essence of this game is the speed and the skill and playmaking.”

Johnston said he believes a number of things can be done to reduce the risk of concussions that have plagued star players like Sidney Crosby and raised the concern of parents of young players.

“If we want our children, both our boys and girls, to be playing this game we don’t want them to be subjecting themselves to concussions and so on.”

Those steps include redesigning hard-plastic equipment so it is less dangerous, eliminating head shots and high-sticking and, “and fourthly, I think fighting is just … it should not be a part of the game.”

Johnston said he suffered three concussions himself by the time he was 16, two from football and one from hockey — until his family doctor convinced him to wear a helmet, an unpopular choice in those days.

Johnston also said one of the great developments in hockey in the last 25 years is the emergence of women’s hockey.

“They play the game as I love to see it played,” Johnston said. “The best athletic contest that I’ve seen in the last 20 years have been the Canadian national women’s hockey team playing the U.S. national women’s team.

You tell ‘em resident expert!
In all seriousness, Ian is right, fighting is here because of the dinosaurs that want to keep it – who think the sport would lose it’s appeal. The NHL needs to take head trauma seriously.

If they can get rid of the staged fights it would be a big first step in minimizing fighting in hockey.
For anyone who has played the game we all know that in the heat of action…a battle for the puck in the corner….an elbow comes up….a pushback is made….next thing you know the gloves are off. This will never be totally eliminated. Ejection from the game will lessen it but never totally eliminate it. Sometimes emotions get too high.
But these staged fights….ban them. Suspend the coaches or fine the teams involved heavily. No place for them in our game.

And as I’ve pointed out many times on here Ian. I think the most serious injuries from fighting occur when a “combatant” gets stunned or knocked out and falls helplessly to the ice hitting his head. 1 in every 10 fights results in a concussion from the studies I’ve read

Given that 20% of the players in the league are as short or shorter than Gomez I would expect quite a crowd. That’s over 160 so-called dwarfs and includes dwarfs like Crosby, Richards, Zetterberg, Alfredsson…should I go on?
(All in good fun Burlie

I know… but below I said PG reminds me of PK but without the upside. In other words, he reminds me of a rookie who makes a lot of mistakes… too subtle I guess. Some poster took me to task on why I think PG is so good. ARRGGHHH!!!!

To me Gauthier won that trade in every respect. 1) He acquired a bigger forward which we need. 2) He gained about 2.7 million in cap space 3) he acquired a young prospect in Patrick Holland who is presently one of the top scorers on the Tri-City Americans (first place in the WHL) 4) got a 2nd round pick in 2013.

On another note, the Memorial Cup tournament could be very interesting for Habs fans. Michael Bournival and Morgan Ellis will be there for sure since Shawinigan are hosting. Also Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi, Brendan Gallagher and Holland all play on contenders.

Agree on all your points. It is interesting the scuttle on Holland. Various prognosticaters are not giving this guy much of an upside, but considering the success he is attaining on a good Junior team, you never know.

I guess the only wildcard in the trade is Ramo. Evidently, now that an NHL team with an aging goalie has his rights he apparantly has interest in coming over. Doesn’t hurt that Kipper is a fellow finnish keeper and would be an excellent mentor for him.

He didn’t do much if anything in NHL first go around, but has put up good numbers in the KHL the last 2 years.

Ramo would be below Leland Irving in Cal depth chart. He plays for Abbotsford and is quite good. The Flames have as much as said the net is his when Kipper is done. He is in the minors so he can play. I don’t think Karlsson will be the Man in Cal. I expect Ramo will get traded again before he plays

I like the trade… BUT… the day after the trade Holland injured Gallagher in a game. Was it in an attempt to become the habs number one WHL prospect? Whatever caused it, it wasn’t too smart. Gallagher was having (another) career year.

I agree the jury is still out, but I think it’s the TYPE of player we got in return. Even if Cammy finishes with better stats, I still think Bourque is better for our lineup in terms of what he brings to the table (not to mention the salary savings). I say, barring a drastic plummet in Bourque’s stats, clear win for us.

Calgary will regret that trade I am confident. Cammy is not playing good hockey at all. I was stoked to see what he would do. Remember all of those articles before the season about how he trained harder and was in the best shape of his life lol. Load of hot air. You can be in great shape all you want but if you don’t adapt your game you will be unsuccessful.

Feaster has an old roster and gave up cap space a 2nd round pick and a mid level prospect for a struggling sniper. It was a gamble that I think will come back to haunt him. I personally hope the trade works out for both teams but I just don’t see it happening. Even if Bourque only gets 20 goals a year we win the trade

In “Dregers mailbag” on TSN, he mentions in three different answers to questions from fans that Detroit and Vancouver are both interested in Travis Moen. If this is the case, and PG do in fact decide to move him, where do you think he well go? And what do you believe we can get in return?

I like Moen but I’d be okay to see him go if we get a decent return… meaning at least a 2nd rounder, or a good looking prospect (top 6 or at 9 forward with similar grit). I see him going to Vancouver. He’s just the kind of guy the lacked last year.

As for AK. I hope he stays. I’d miss him cruising through crowds the way he has been the last while. He finally seems happy here. Whether it’s the linemates, the personal life, whatever, THIS is the player we’ve been waiting for and you won’t replace his skills with similar money. It would be smart to sign him – 2 years maybe.

I cant see them giving up a 1st rounder for a travis moen rental. I think Gillis is smarter than that. If he were to make that deal I think its safe to assume that vancouver would have to win the cup, because if they didnt it would look pretty silly.

I’d be impressed if the Goat got a 1st rounder for him – even a very late one as Vancouver will probably have. In other words.. I doubt it. More likely a B-grade prospect or they give us their 1st and rounder and a bottom-6 F prospect, and we give them our 2nd and Moen… I could see something like that.

Hey, maybe some of you fans that follow more closely than I do can help me out here. I’m trying to pick my team for next week’s pool and I was thinking of taking Ovechkin.
According to both TSN.ca and sportsnetwork.com he is eligible to return from suspension against the Habs on Feb.4 but that would mean he’d only sit out 2 games (three game suspension, right?).
Sorry about that. My bad. Forgot about their game before the break.

Sarich or Mitchell would only be on short contracts – stop gaps until help from the junior ranks comes. If Kaberle and Gomez are gone, Suter is affordable. Overpaying a bit for Gaustad might get him to Montreal as the fourth pivot.

Edit: Suter is ideal – highly unlikely, of course. But you can say the same for any other prospective team except Nashville.

I’m not saying Kaberle WILL be moved, just that he can be moved; it’s a matter of what he’d fetch. If Gomez can’t be moved, it’s because he’s so bad that he doesn’t belong in the NHL and so I think management would be willing to eat his contract.

As for Gaustad, I’d say ‘yes’ on overpaying – up to 3mill/yr – for a guy who’s going to take tough assignments, a PK role, and who is able to move up the lineup if there are injuries (which there will be). He’s not a 4th line plug. Is he worth 3? Like I said: overpay.

Tuesdays game will be huge…did the habs turn it around with their performance vs detroit or do they come out with a lifeless effort that they have done many times this year and get beaten 3-1 by the sabres with minimal scoring chances…we are hoping for the pp to improve but in most seasons a teams pp and pk remains pretty well the same for the rest of the season once they have reached the half way mark of the season…usually it only changes if they add a new player that chances the teams mindset……but to have the second worst home record is a disgrace and many of the players have to take the blame for it….

I think Buffalo will be equally motivated, and Miller will stand on his head. I also think the team weve seen more of this season is the inconsistent one from just last week against the Caps. Torontos game on Saturday could of gone either way. Detroit didnt play. So essentially they got a couple breaks.

If we were 5-3 in the shootout, we’d be in the playoffs. If it were 7-1, we’d be tailing Boston, and within sight of the division championship.

If the PP clicked at an average rate, we’d be in the playoffs. This team is closer to competitive than it seems. We haven’t been this good 5-on-5 in many years.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why the SO and PP numbers are so bad. We have a top-10 Goalie and lots of talented forwards. Why doesn’t it come together?

I remember looking at NHL24/7 last year and seeing all the drills and games Dan Bylsma makes his team go through to practice the shootout. They’re record stands at 6-2 this year. 12 points gained instead of 2 for us. Whoever performed best in practice gets slotted for the next shootout.

You have to wonder if this is being done by the habs staff…

Pens only currently have one player with slick hands – Malkin. Fleury is not usually regarded as better than Price, although with the SO numbers maybe I should rethink.

Maybe Price is just a big body with good positioning, and not as slick with the reflexes as we assume. Certainly hard to look at his SO record and think otherwise, it’s the worst in the league

On another note, shootouts are becoming frustratingly important in todays game, maybe next year they should have an open door shootout tryout. Everyone gets 50 tries, top scorer gets a contract and becomes the DH of hockey.

There’s a plethora of “ifs” out there. Bottom line (thanks, parity) is that there are so many teams bunched together just ahead of/behind the Habs, it’s going to be tough (not impossible) but…

And (as so many have mentioned over and over)…if the Hab’s buck the odds and manage to squeak into the playoffs…well we know who they’d be playing probably, and yes we’ve heard it before, anything can happen…but, if truth be told, the chances of advancing are slim

It’s just a question of confidence. Last year, Price’s numbers in SO were much better.

By the way, I don’t know how you do your math: if we were 5-3 instead of 1-7, we’d only have 4 more points and we’d still be out of the playoff. Did you forget that we got one point already for those losses?

Well I applaud your idea regardless of numbers. 4points would put us in a playoff potential as opposed to not at this point. But regardless of the shoutout failure. The team architect put to much pressure on Price. Had again this team take care of the defensive end of this product, shootouts would be less relevant.

This team for the last decade has moved decent to all star defenceman out of town endlessly. Theyve always decided money spent somewhere else was a priority. Well the results speak for themselves. Time to put some value in the right defensive pieces.

Price can do it but he hasn’t. Seems to choke. Last playoff series win was four years ago. This year’s difficulties in the SO and with penalty shots indicates continuing head trouble. He’s got the physical tools but until he gets the mental side together we’re up Cadbury Creek.

Gauthier, who in my mind is to GM’s as PK is to defensemen – but without the upside – has a BUNCH of contracts to do for next year. Aside from the most obvious and talked about (PK and Price), he has FOUR important guys who are ALL RFA’s.

They are:
Eller
Emelin
Diaz
White

So I ask… when do you think PG will take a break from his tofu cooking class to sign these guys… and how much will it take? Remember, their agents aren’t stupid. These guys (save White) have all had good years, all are important building blocks.

That’s not true. I did not. Pleks was established clearly as our #2 or #1a center. No reason to change that. I DID worry about him being signed, but that’s because he’s my favorite player and so many dumb decisions were being made.

WHAT I SAID IS we’d lose guys and opportunities because of Gomez’s stupid cap hit, that the Gomez contract would ripple through the team and we wouldn’t succeed with it on the books. I also said Gomez wouldn’t finish his contract here. I was right about the first part, and I’ll be right about the second (people seem to take that for granted now).

No love for the Moenster?
I’d offer a 2 years deal, 1.7 million per for Eller, similar to what Paccioretty got.
Emelin is a tougher cookie to judge, but he should get at least 1.5, maybe for 3 years?
Diaz 1.5millions on a one way deal.
White I,d give the same deal, 650k for a year, 2way deal.

Emelin was making 2 mil a year in the KHL last year. IMO, offer him less and he will likely go back. I think you would need at least $2.5 mil for two or three years.
@HF111 Eller’s 1.2 includes bonuses, but 1.7 would be guaranteed, so more like a doubling.
I agree with you on the rest.

I remember the news reports from 2009. He signed a two-year deal worth 2 mil a year, more than double what he could have gotten under the rookie cap. I remember it because right up until he signed with the KHL he was saying he loved the history and tradition of Montreal and he wanted to test himself against the best in the NHL and everyone expected him to sign with the HAbs and then he didn’t. I thought that there must be more to the story so I did some digging.

If PG, is still a GM after the HABS fail on the season, then the problem is much more profound then I suspect.

Where you see his value is incomprehensible. Never mind his complete reactionary and short sighted vision of this season. Other then the hand me down throne he inherited, what stamp of positive progression have you seen him make.

Not to say Gainey’s experiment has done him any favors. But really, was it in his patience when he shipped Halak out, moments after the season ended.

The team has always had good building blocks, but never materializes. Im about stability in all honesty, and changing the guard can only lengthen this process. But honestly firing the coachs as hes done this season and with the result still being the same, he pretty much set his own neck out there. You dont remove the coach before the half way mark, at a 500 record, fail on the season and still keep your job. Do you?

I said he is like PK without the upside. Take away PK’s upside and you have an ordinary player who facks up all the time. I think he’s an idiot who’s chasing the bus instead of driving it. Is that clearer?

These guys all had good years?? I like Eller and Emelin long term but that´s just not true. Don´t tell me about Diaz and the rookie all-star game last minute replacement. The Habs defence is the main reason they are out of the playoff picture. They simply can´t hold close leads. The forward corps is deeper than it´s been for years. Eller has 20 points and seems better than average defensively. OK but not “good”.

However in fairness many posters wanted to gey rid of Hammer, Spacek Mara as they were too old and slow so we now have lots of young d-men with little or no NHL experience. If we can make it to the playoffs and go a few rounds the experience they pick up will lead to a very young and experienced d-corp. for next year.

Ultimately the point of the article is that one way that teams can protect their star players is to give them more offensive zone starts. Obviously its a lot harder and more dangerous to start in the defensive zone, while starting in the Ozone helps players to use more of their energy scoring, and less of their time simply clearing the zone or blocking shots.

Vancouver gives the Sedins almost 80% of their shift starts in the offensive zone which leads the league. They’re able to do this because Malholtra is a beast who takes the vast majority of the defensive faceoffs. The result is they score loads of points because they expend less energy just to get the puck into the Ozone.

Looking at our team Tomas Plekanec sees a team worst 42.7% of his starts in the offensive zone. This is because we lack a real defensive centreman who can bear the brunt of the defensive zone faceoffs. Its little wonder then why Plekanec goes through scoring droughts, and seemingly spends so much of his time just trying to get into the other team’s end. He’s at a near 40% disadvantage when compared to the league leaders. I’m not saying Pleky is as good as the Sedins, but if we had a true defensive centre on the fourth line – a guy who would immediately come off once we clear the defensive zone, we would probably see a clear boost on our scoring lines in terms of production.

Very interesting. This is another reason why I never understood why the Habs let Moore, then Halpern walk. Both those guys were above average in faceoffs. The year the Hurricanes won the Cup, Brind’Amour absolutely destroyed the Oilers on face-offs. It really hurts special teams as well if every PP starts with the puck being cleared down the ice because you lost the faceoff.

Not sure if any of you know the answer:
It’s my GF’s 50th today, so I am taking her to the Casino in Gatineau for two days on Sunday/Monday. (I have to make up for the Xmas present fiasco; I never should have bought her that Swiffer.)
We are staying at the Hilton at the Casino. I noticed at the fantasy draft that the players were getting out of the bus and going into that hotel. Does anyone know if the players are staying at that hotel?
We are heading up there Sunday morning and thought maybe we could get autographs for the nephews….Yeah, that’s it, for the nephews!

Hey Boone, I’m a big Reds fan too.
Been to Anfield twice – once in ’81 for an FA Cup tie, and once in 2001 to see Michael Owen score a hat-trick against Shearer’s Newcastle.
You ever manage to see any matches?

Saw them at Anfield in the Kop end around 1997 in a regular season game against Sheffield Wednesday. It was during their McManaman, Fowler, Collymore, McAteer era… Wednesday scored at the other end in the first 5 minutes and then played shut down for the remaining 85.

I’ve seen more interesting games orchestrated by Jacques Lemaire.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” to start the match was worth the price of entry all the same.

Look at that horsecrap! I like the TSN hockey crew BTW, but this stuff is awful. I didn’t watch it, I was out. Looking at this clip a couple of times shows that Lurch, feigning a little paper shuffling, wanted Carey to come to him and kiss his ring. Fortunately, and consistent with Carey’s smoothness, he didn’t buy it and kept walking. Then the giant salami tries to make Carey look bad when he half heartedly slithers to the bleacher looking for a perfunctory handshake.

Okay, I’ll pick up your gauntlet.
First of all, I want to point out your darn cranky when you have NO hockey to watch.
And secondly, I will take back everything negative I said about Kaberle. Which is nothing is nada is zilch is zip is have a NICE weekend Eric.

He serves a useful purpose and it made sense bringing him here. That being said, if Markie makes it back then we would be better served with another physical D next year IMO. And your really stretching it if you believe some of HIO’s finest will admit they are wrong

I don’t know if anybody caught this in the video posted of Price getting drafted at the All Star game… but watch it again and see Price snub Chara’s attempted handshake…. totally make my morning today! hahaha

Here’s what I don’t like about this lineup. On defense, Emelin is the only player back there who can consistently ease the traffic burden on Price. Something’s gotta give and I don’t see a way that Kaberle returns, but the team did want him in free agency.

I agree but we have a lot of money to spend, even with Price at 5.5, and Subban at 3M. You can add another top 4 D-men at around 3.5-4M, I would like Stuart, but he most likely will be going out west, his family lives there during the season, and he would like to be closer to them. I’d also Leblanc and Gallagher atleast start in the AHL. We would have enough money to sign another forward at 3-4M

Kaberle, despite some of the misguided hate towards him, will be back next year. He has played well for us and is someone management was very keen on. His contract is really not that expensive when you look at it in context.

Gallagher and Leblanc will probably get plenty of NHL experience next year. Particularly Leblanc. But the Habs tend to like to leave youth in the AHL until they have no choice but to call them up. What I mean is, that the AHL guys won’t be expected to make the team. We will have a full line up, and if one of them proves himself to be better than someone in our line up, then they will get their shot. If that makes any sense …

Thats quite the diplomatic invitation…Myself I still dont care for the trade, mainly cause I dislike that type of player (special teams specialists). Hes what he always was -a non factor in every possible way. It’s funny how a sweater can change people, before he came to Montreal I mentioned Kaberle in passing, and most said he sucked. Kinda like this forum in a way; its not what is said that matters, but rather who says it.

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.

Gauthier deserves nothing. The team is pretty much last in the conference if you haven’t noticed. Even though Gainey was clueless, at least his teams mostly made the playoffs.

His trades have been above average? Like SK74, Lapierre, D’Agostini, Latendresse? How about trading Halak and Cammy and never even trying to create a market by shopping them? That is just stupid.
His free agent signings? Like Cole, yes that was very good. The only move Gauthier ever made that I agreed with. Who else? Gill lol. Gauthier has let the defense and forward depth denigrate and that is why they are where they are.

Montreal’s prospects are rated like 24th in the league, so I don’t know what you are talking about in regards to amateur scouting. Pro scouting has been atrocious as well, although it is getting better as of late.

It took Gainey/Gauthier 8 years to realize size is important. The last thing Gauthier deserves is more time.

Kostitsyn was bad mouthing the team to anyone who would listen, Latendresse outright refused to play the way he was being told by his coaching staff, D’Agostini has contributed 31 goals in 131 games for the Blues, bad trade in hindsight? Yeah probably. But at the time it was hardly a bad move, and Palushaj could well work out. As for Lapierre. Gillis overpaying for him at the deadline doesn’t mean Gauthier did a bad job.

As far as the Canadiens’ prospect rankings go. I’m assuming you’re using hockeysfuture. And if you examine their website you’ll find tremendously outdated information on almost every single team in the league. They’re very unreliable for information and their evaluation process is hilarious. They have players listed with incorrect positions, leagues and sizes. How can they be relied on to provide insightful analysis of prospects when they don’t know the league they’re playing in?

Get rid of McGuire, Crawford, Risebrough and Roy and you might have something there.
Crawford probably makes more as a talking head on TSN than he would as an assistant.
Roy can wait for the Islanders or Coyotes to be moved to Quebec City.

Roy needs to coach in the AHL first, or at least assistant coach in the NHL first. There is a big difference between coaching amateur boys and professional men. Montreal is not a place to make rookie coaching errors.

I don’t understand how people continue to view McGuire as legit. He hasn’t had a hockey management job in 15 years for good reason.

The only thing he has going for him is Bowman’s supposed approval, which I see as one of Bowman’s classic Trojan horse moves. He figures the Hawks get an immediate advantage over any team willing to give McGoo a real job.

My first intention was to place Mcguire in the professional scouting dept, but he most certainly would not accept that job. The guy is an absolute ear-ache on tv but hes pretty good at talent analysis. The move to NBC, while awesome for my ears since now i can actually listen to the games on TSN, is giving him more exposure internationally.

I would not want him running the show, as TSN mentioned but as an assistant who has the ear (third ear reference yikes) of the GM it may work.

I’m not going to bash McGuire because the guy is extremely knowledgeable.
Whether he can GM or not, I don’t know.
But there’s no way I would pick Patrick Roy as a coach.
Nothing leads me to believe that he’s curbed his temper.
He still lays into the refs during the Rampart games, and his arrogance knows no bounds.
I would re-hire Carbo for coach. He had a great record going, until BG thought otherwise. One of his brain cramps.
And I’d also work like hell to bring Captain Kirk back. The PP needs him.

United the bruins of the premier league? Your joking, evereyone knows that the scousers a the lowest of the low, Just look at Steven Gerard, the man loves a good punch up
the players even have to hire security when they’re on the road just to keep their own fans from robbing their homes. Got to love the scouse.

Hilarious. Someone who supports United and obviously one of the biggest morons in sports with Wayne Rooney and the most classless manager alongside Mourinho points a finger at Steven Gerrard. You surely follow the right football team. Well, you probably call it soccer team.

“What teams would allow him top Powerplay minutes? He hasn’t been able to hold the offensive zone, has made a tremendous amount of wildly inaccurate passes and has used questionable instincts in his decision making on when to pinch and when not to.”

Minnesota, The Islanders, Oilers with their injuries, Blue Jackets (after Wiz he woudl be their best offensive dman)..probably others if you go through the llist but those come to mind right away.

I agree his confidence is shot and that is why I see it best for both parties to part ways…in a package

The Oilers aren’t playing Weber ahead of Whitney, Gilbert and Barker on their powerplay. And he wouldn’t be getting significant powerplay time with the BlueJackets either with them having Wiz, Nikitin and Tyutin on their roster.

As for the Islanders and Wild. Yeah, he probably sees first or second unit duty with them. That’s a far cry from many teams.

Brian Rafalski finished a strong 4 year career in Division I NCAA hockey, and then played 4 seasons in the Swedish and Finnish elite leagues before starting his NHL career as a 26 year old rookie.

Tobias Enstrom had 5 full seasons in the Swedish Elite League under his belt when he made the jump to the NHL as a 23 year old rookie.

Mark Streit was 27 years old when he broke in with Montreal after a long career in various leagues and some time with the Swiss National Team. He struggled for the first couple of years as well, and was ultimately let go as he would “never make it as a defenceman”.

Lubomir Visnovsky came to the NHL as a 24 year old rookie.

Weber may or may not equal any of those players’ success. But while many here might significantly overvalue Weber, it is also true that many here sigificantly undervalue him. Playing on a defence corps that isn’t designed to hide the flaws of a young, offensive defenceman, Weber’s flaws are easy to spot.

But if he was partnered with a stay-at-home defenceman in a system that helps cover up his flaws, he could still become a very good player for the right team. So I don’t think either of you are wrong…it is impossible to know until the player is put into the situation.

General Managers will not operate on the assumption that Weber will turn a corner. And I’m only speaking to his current value. As it stands today, he has regressed signicantly in his decision making and confidence. As such, it’s fair to wonder if he will be a career AHL player and certainly a point that a rival GM would make if Weber’s name came up in trade discussion.

I’m not convinced that is true. One need look no further than players like Gilbert Brule or Benoit Pouliot to see that GM’s will actually roll the dice on young players that have shown offensive potential in the past, even if the NHL results don’t match they talent.

Seeing Cole play this year and handle himself with the team and media, I can’t make any sense of why Carolina let hm walk. Especially after giving up Williams to get him back from Edmonton just a couple of years before.

They didn’t “let him walk.” The Habs outbid them – same $$$ but an extra year, as I recall.

———————–
GO HABS GO! 2011-12 is probably not our year!
“Scott Gomez, a potential Hall of Fame player, has two Stanley Cup rings and a Calder Trophy that says ‘I’m a player whom any authentic NHL coach will rely on to fix a game problem.’” – VancouverHab

Now that the most riveting element of the All Star festivities is behind us, let the predictions for the run-in begin:

1. There is categorically NO WAY Subban is traded.
2. Pleks is dealt to either Florida, Nashville or St Louis. Not sure what’s returned, but it may involve picks, a Dman, and another team. Gomez centers the 3rd line.
3. Gill goes for a 3rd rounder.
4. Rene Bourque scores 1 PPG
5. People forget Michael Camma… whatwashisnameagain?
6. 2 is probably the biggest one.

I’d go ahead and strike Florida off of that list with them potentially joining the same division as the Habs as early as next season.

Nashville is very deep in terms of talent at the centre position and already has their own version of Plekanec in Mike Fisher. I wouldn’t be banking on them acquiring Plekanec. St.Louis? Anything’s possible but if I were a gambling man I’d have my money on Chicago.

That realignment proposal has been scuttled. No new conferences/divisions for 2012-13.

———————–
GO HABS GO! 2011-12 is probably not our year!
“Scott Gomez, a potential Hall of Fame player, has two Stanley Cup rings and a Calder Trophy that says ‘I’m a player whom any authentic NHL coach will rely on to fix a game problem.’” – VancouverHab

The NHLPA scuttled it temporarily. Coming out of the lockout a makeshift schedule had to be drawn up in less than two weeks. I have serious doubts about the NHL’s inability to do up a schedule in July.

It was a power move. It didn’t work. But that realignment is likely to happen.

Below is something Gauthier might chew on. I am not big on Prasie because he is another small guy from NJ. We do not need another Gomez II. Anyway I throw out the following as a possibility.

Comment from TSN/Columbus Newspaper:

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger says that the Blue Jackets would like to deal Jeff Carter at the trade deadline, but the 10 years left on his contract at $5.27 million a season will be a hindrance to any team interested.

Given the fact this guy is a goal scorer, I would take the cap hit and go after this guy as long as you could move Gomez in the trade. Carter unlike some of the other names thrown out there (i.e. Getzlaf) is a goal/assist machine. Getzlaf only gets assists. The reason why the Canadiens probably won’t make this deal is because Carter is a bad locker room guy/has rep of liking to party based on Philly days. However, I still think this is the type of player the team needs.

Moving Gomez for this guy works for both teams as follows:

(1) Habs get immediate cap relief of another $2+ million
(2) Columbus gets rid of player who doesn’t want to be there and relief from long-term contract for a player who comes off books in three years.
(3) In years two and three of the Gomez contract, Columbus will enjoy a $3mm and 6MM differential savings between cash paid on contract and cap hit.
(4) I suppose we could include Streit II (Weber) in the trade if pushed .

As an aside I wonder why people are so down on Weber. He makes no where near the mistakes that Subban or Gorges make. Can someone point out to me why Weber is so bad. I am not saying he is great but I don’t see the rationale for giving up on him.

I wonder if Subban can be traded, with all the problems that management has with him, and the coaching staff unable to connect with him like they did in Hamilton, we could see the downfall of an emerging talent yet wasted again in Montreal, only to bloom later in another offensive minded team. If we trade Subban I could see getting Carter if we package Gomez along with a tiny tot d-man. We have enough thanks to Gainey/Gauthier’s tea cup smurf collection…..only in habs land.

On Weber…he isn’t so bad…he is young. We just happen to have an offensive right handed dman in Subban who can log more useful minutes. We also already now have Diaz who is more ready (he is several years older mind you). We have Markov and/or Kaberle who offer offense and we have Beaulieu in the pipeline….we just have too many guys like this….it comes down to someone having to leave…of the guys I mentioned it comes down really to Weber being the most suited…he will probably fetch the most as Kaberle isn’t going anywhere until the Markov situation is resolved. Gorges is signed forever. Emelin isn’t going anywhere. Campoli will not be kept. Weber will have a long NHL career IMO…but jsut not in Montreal….I just can’t see it…unless he is willing to be a pressboxer and maybe even spend more time in the AHL, etc…and I don’t think that is fair to him and it doesn’t really help us either…he is better off somewhere else and will get a return for the team and the playing time and future role he deserves. That is my guess anyway…although maybe he is fine with everything but he has already spoke out indicating he isn;t …I suspect he is part of a package at some point.

If anyone outside of Montreal has watched Weber this season, his value isn’t anywhere near good.

He’s had a good amount of experience in professional hockey and while young, has regressed in his defensive abilities. His passing is fine, but decision making and execution are well below average for a #7 defenseman on an NHL club right now.

He’s been as hot and cold as any player this team’s had high hopes for in quite some time. The hot times haven’t been good enough to warrant a decent return either.

I disagree…on many teams he would get top pp minutes…and have a more limited role defensively and would be paired with a a solid vet stay at home guy. I think his defesnive abilities are similar to Diaz…he just gives up 3 or 4 years …he will never be a great defensvie dman but his shot and offensive abilities in combination with the ability to be average or thereabout defensviely will lead to a long solid career for Weber IMO. That is how I see him anyway…and he won;t get a decent return on his own..taht I agree on but he is definitely a guy who when in a package cold put a deal over the top becuase he does have potential.

What teams would allow him top Powerplay minutes? He hasn’t been able to hold the offensive zone, has made a tremendous amount of wildly inaccurate passes and has used questionable instincts in his decision making on when to pinch and when not to.

His confidence is in the toilet. And his situation, to me, is very reminiscent of Ryan O’Byrne’s early last season.

I don’t think they will continue to go up. The reason prices have risen is not so much that the NHL is making more money as it is that inflation has caused all prices to go up. The economy will eventually crash or get better. If it crashes, well then there probably won’t be any NHL. If it get’s better then prices will go down. I think next year may be the first year where the salary cap will go down.

You really don’t want to hear about Carter’s contract here for the next 10 years. A couple of years from now we will hopefully have reasonable contracts and we can talk about something else. The so called BG, PG era will be gone.

I think the term is the killer. In the cap era, teams need a certain degree of flexibility and taking on a decade-long contract for a guy who doesn’t seem like he can motivate himself could be quite problematic.

People didn’t like Kaberle’s longer contract and I think the same applies to Carter’s contract except to even greater degree.

Weber has been beaten badly to the outside many times this season in one-on-one situations. He has also let forwards behind him too many times due to poor positioning. He has trouble with bigger forwards. For an offensive defenseman, he is not particularly fast. But he is also only 23 so I would not give up on him yet, but he is simply not good enough defensively yet to take a regular shift in the NHL, IMO. You can’t compare him to Subban and Gorges for errors. Subban and Gorges have been playing top minutes against the other team’s best players. If the Habs put Weber in the same situations, it would be more obvious how much better Subban and Gorges are.

I don’t think the Habs gave up on Weber, Diaz just moved past him in the depth chart, and deservedly so. For example in Ottawa, because of Cowan’s unexpected great play, they were able to trade Runblad for Turris even though they had given up a 1st rounder to get Runblad last year.

I think your analysis is pretty spot on, and Carter is the type of guy we want (less the partying – how the heck do you party in Philly?) but I think we have to learn our lesson here and not do the 10 year contract thing, which, if you look around the NHL as a whole, has rarely worked out.

Plus the getting rid of Gomez is not going to be easy.

As for Weber, the guy has done everything asked of him and is a really useful guy to have around, IMHO.

Any bumps in his development I am happy to attribute to our sh*t defensive coaching.

CHRIS– Thanks for the feed back on my post. But I was referring to the game in itself being played much differently as many years ago.
This hockey of today is not even close to the pure play of the game many years ago. It was much more of a team game, much more puck movement from tape to tape, more three way passing plays to score. Today, much more bull work and muscle, harder shots blasting through, rather than pure passing plays in front.
I could go on and on. The game has changed for sure, and for me, not for the better. Injuries are another tell tale disgrace of the new game.

got agree with you Ian, I still remember the good old days, Savard picking up the puck behind his own net, striding on up to the blue line, feathering a pass to lamaire, over to lafluer, ECT… even the second and third lines passed the puck. Seems to me that the most important thing on some players mind now, is to hurt and end careers. Big Bird could have been one of the hardest hitters ever, but he showed respect, if he could get in someones way or rub him out, he would, he didnt try to kill anyone !!!

Im not as old as some of you dinosaurs but the two things that stand out to me: 1-Yes the players today are bigger but they aint tougher. But that goes for society in general ie; men shaving their bodies and carrying purses or what have you. 2-Players today cant put the effing puck up when up close. They deke and shoot right into the pads 80% of the time. Teemu Selanne is relevant still cause he still can put the puck up from up close.

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.

Ian: Perhaps that is true, but even there I have my doubts. We often look back at hockey of old through a sentimental, as opposed to an objective, lens.

Passing is unquestionably more difficult today: players are bigger and faster, meaning there is less space and even less time for that passing play to develop. Coaches encourage their players to pressure the passer at all times, as you are more likely to make mistakes when under pressure.

Forwards in the old days were, quite simply, not particularly adept skaters. Even in the 1980’s, there were many forwards that simply were not strong backwards skaters. Puck movement is complicated when the defensive players can see the puck at all times, as opposed to skating with their back to the passer.

Passing plays remain a part of the game now, but with bigger and lighter goaltender equipment on goalies that are far, far bigger, there simply isn’t the same reward so your mind doesn’t burn in the play. We remember goals, not pretty passing plays that ultimately end up as saves. Add in that today’s defencemen are shot-blocking machines (again, equipment improvements have allowed them to become more fearless) and those passing plays that used to give your 3 or 4 goals a night are lucky to yield 1.

If anything, I would say that today’s NHL is far more of a team game than the old days. You simply can’t go end-to-end very easily in today’s league. That is the single greatest difference in today’s NHL.

Injury diagnosis, particularly concerning head shots, is far more advanced today. So I am not sure that there are more or less head injuries in today’s game, just that the diagnosis of such has improved. We no longer use “smelling salts” on the bench to get a probably concussed player back on their feet so they can finish the game out.

One of the biggest issues that professional sports face today is that they have to convince athletes to overcome the “play through pain” mentality of yesteryear, when athletes didn’t know any better.

Players knew about concussions and the perils (Bill Masterton died on the ice in 1968 after hitting his head on the ice) yet it took another decade for the league to mandate helmets due to resistance from the players.

But don’t kid yourself…the headshot was practiced in the old NHL too. Gordie Howe loved to elbow his opponents in the chops along the boards. Bobby Hull intentionally aimed his slapshots at the unprotected heads of the goaltenders. Disgraceful stick-swinging incidents and sucker punches resulted in fractured skulls (Wayne Maki/Ted Green, Ace Bailey). Maurice Richard was suspended numerous times for slashing incidents over his career, often in retaliation for dirty tactics used by his opponents to neutralize him or goad him into a fight. Ted Lindsay earned the nickname “Terrible Ted” and was at least partially responsible for the introduction of elbowing and kneeing penalties by the NHL.

If you watch the old classic NHL games when they didn’t wear helmets, players didn’t run around with the big North-South hits. There were hardly any players finishing their checks like they do now. If you played today’s game without a helmet, guys would be killed more often.

If you look at the charging rules and the interference rules as they are written, violent body checks and “finishing your check” are actually against the rules. The NHL have been poor stewards of the game by allowing this stuff to creep in in the last 40 years. In this way, the game has regressed.

The game would be better if bodying checking was limited to separating the man from the puck, not his head from his body. And eliminate late hits all together as the rules intended. NHL players can stop and turn in an instant. If the puck is gone for more than a fraction of a second, you should not be allowed to hit. If big NFL linemen can stop hitting QBs late, then NHL can change as well.

It took the Pacioretty hit and the research on concussions to finally initiate change, but I don’t have faith they will go far enough.

The biggest difference today, IMO,is the coaching is so different. In the 70s and earlier guys didn’t play systems or traps that were designed to thwart passing and playmaking. Once video-analysis arrived (thank Al Arbour) teams could study how to shut-down the opposition instead of figuring it out on the fly. Players entering the league have had high-level coaching for their entire lives. I know when I was a kid in the late 70s and 80s the coach just opened the door for us and yelled at us to skate harder. Little different now where coahing is a paid position even in novice.
I think making the ice-surface larger, to Intl. size would help fix a few problems. Fewer injuries for starters, guys are bigger, faster and need more room. I know the owners would fight this because of the loss of seats but I really think this needs to happen. More room for skilled players to make skillfull plays as well.

I disagree with your comments regarding passing. First of all, the sticks used as recently as the early nineties, much like golf clubs, didn’t allow for any forgiveness in accuracy when the sweet spot on the stick wasn’t used when sending a pass, and because of the ice conditions and lesser ability in skating from guys receiving the pass, it was just as difficult, if not more so than it is today.

Sticks today allow for a tremendous amount of forgiveness in passing. Who can’t use an Easton Stealth, Synergy, RBK or similar sticks, send a pass off of the heel or the toe and saucer it a foot and a half off of the ice and drop it within five feet of a moving target? In addition, when an errant pass does occur in today’s game, the skating ability of teammates allows for a bad pass to be hidden by a fast forward getting to it much like a fast wide receiver getting underneath an overthrown ball in the NFL.

As for forechecking being a difference in eras. I’m not so sure. If anything, players are given more cap these days because of the speed of the game. If you experienced or watched hockey from the sixties through the eightees you often see very tight checking and excellent timing on those checks on players receiving passes.

I don’t believe there’s a single point of argument to be made that could convince me that passing today is more difficult than it was twenty, thirty or fourty years ago. But maybe that’s just me.

Well, for one the curve on sticks has basically removed the accuracy of backhanded passes versus the more flat blades adopted by players in the 1960’s. This is part of the reason why the elite playmakers of the past few years (Oates, Gilmour, etc) have generally used very flat blades compared to their peers.

But the rest of your points are certainly valid. It comes down to perspective, I suppose.

Those 2 minute shifts are long gone. Those old time pass plays only happened because the team D back then wasn’t anywhere near as good as now.
There were plenty of injuries in the old 6 team NHL, too. If there are 5 times as many, it makes sense. The other thing is the 24/7 coverage that teams get now. Every little thing is magnified, examined and dissected.
I remember Wayne Maki and Ted Green going at it with their sticks; it ended up with Green having a fractured skull. At least crap like that happens less these days.

Subway was clogged and my commute was doubled, big old meh to that.
And to answer your question, I’m thinking it will be Plekanec, I hope it is him. Works hard in all situation, has revolving door for wingers and still shows up every night.

Bourque’s hit on Helm(?) near the Detroit blue line in the 2nd period sent a huge message, one that has been lacking for a long time. The opposition has been far too confident about being able to battle their way back when down against the Habs. Goaltending alone can’t do it. Holding a lead usually requires that the opposition be discouraged by actual physical play and the expectation of more.

Having a player with that physical edge, and the fact he has no issues playing the body is a pleasant upgrade for this squad. Add in Emelin’s presence at the rear, and this team is getting a little more difficult to play against.

You hit a huge point there: the habs have to continue becoming a more difficult team to play against. Nevermind our record, but you get the sense that every team who is facing the canadiens feels they have an easy game ahead of them. Its nice to finally start getting some size and physicality on the roster.

There wasn’t a lot to like coming into the season. The Habs were struggling near the bottom of the league in scoring the past couple of seasons, and injuries to Gomez, Gionta, Kostitsyn and Cammalleri in the first half contributed to ensuring this will be another disappointing offensive campaign.

A patch-work defence corps entering the season, I remain very content with their work and optimistic for the future. Gill’s play has fallen off substantially, and the team is clearly missing the heavy minutes of Roman Hamrlik and Andrei Markov. Emelin and Diaz have been pleasant surprises, Gorges hasn’t missed a beat while Subban has struggled at times with the “sophomore jinx”. Nonetheless, the team isn’t exactly getting pummelled, sitting in the top half of the league defensively.

Positives: Josh Gorges
Trending Upwards: Alexei Emelin, Rafael Diaz
Trending Downwards: Tomas Kaberle (defensively, he is a mess), P.K. Subban (although this could turn in a flash), Yannick Weber (looks like his time as a defenceman might be over)
Negatives: Hal Gill

Goaltending – B+

Carey Price has been very good, but not quite as good as he was last season. I’ve been very impressed with his growing maturity and leadership on the team…gone is the occasionally petulant kid that we saw his first couple of seasons. Price is a keeper, although I would be a bit happier if he wasn’t being played 70 games or more. The only thing keeping Price from an A is his poor record in shootouts.

Budaj has barely played, but he is an adequate back-up.

Special Teams – C

#1 penalty kill, #30 power play. You can’t win if you can’t score, and your best chance to score is with the man advantage. How a team with Montreal’s talent is so inept on the PP is beyond me. But that #30 power play is probably the single greatest reason for the mess the Habs are in. Move that power play up to 19th overall (17.3%, the current rate of the Ottawa Senators) and the team has an extra 9 regulation goals. Given the number of 1-goal losses, this could have been huge.

Coaching – C

Jacques Martin lost his job, but we can see that the team just really wasn’t there for him. Randy Cunneyworth has done even worse than Martin, but the improved offense and more aggressive forecheck leaves me somewhat optimistic.

GM – B+

I’m one of the few that is reasonably happy with Pierre Gauthier. The Andrei Markov signing was a roll of the dice, and he got burned. It happens.

But Blunden was a decent acquisition and Kaberle could be a good pick-up as he can partner Andrei Markov on the power play, something I’m not sure works with P.K. Subban.

I’ve been very happy with the acquisition of Erik Cole and the Rene Bourque for Mike Cammalleri trade was astute in my opinion.

People talk about Gauthier blowing up Gainey’s “smurf” gameplan, but this is complete nonsense. Gainey never had a smurf plan, he wanted a team that was fast and skilled and those happened to be the players that were available. Cole and Bourque are both big forwards that can nonetheless skate their butts off, joining similarly talented forwards with size (Kostitsyn, Eller, Pacioretty). Size really isn’t a problem up front anymore.

Add an elite defenceman and perhaps a steady, veteran top-4 defender to the team and the Habs are actually in good shape. Markov may still represent the elite defenceman, while the steady top-4 veteran could be found via free agency or trade (I’m not thinking of a “name” guy, just a good solid defensive defenceman).

Up front, adding a game-breaking forward would obviously be great, but I don’t know how the team can actually do that as there aren’t a lot of those types of players available via trade or free agency.

Zach Parise is one popular choice, but he hasn’t exactly lit it up this season. He’s good, but perhaps not elite.

Alexander Semin is talented, but he is far too inconsistent and would get devoured by the Montreal market.

Ales Hemsky is perhaps the most intriguing player available this summer. Like Marian Gaborik a couple of years ago, the knock is that Hemsky is frequently injured (played in only 42% of the Oilers games the past two seasons). But when he’s healthy, he’s one of the few NHL players that can flirt with a point-per-game pace. That shoulder though is a huge concern, and almost certainly represents too great a risk for the Canadiens coming off a season where they got burned by Markov’s injury situation.

Yah, heard that as well. Too bad Parise’s pop wasn’t from Quebec with that name, I grew up thinking he was from Quebec. But alas as I found out he was from Ontario and has settled into life in the States, and I think son is quite happy in the States also.

Good analysis Chris.
One thing I’d like to point out coach-wise, I just read this on HF boards…
Habs Bench Minors: Last season: 14 minors (most in NHL). This season under JM: 8 minors in 32 games. Cunneyworth: 0 minors after 17 games.

I’ll never forget the game where the Habs were given a bench minor for TMMOTI and, while killing that penalty, were given another bench minor for TMMOTI to make it a 5 on 3. Man, those were some good times with J F. M.

What a great stat you pointed out Shiram. There was nothing more frustrating than watching the play stop because of some costly bench minor, always seemed to happen when we were closing in on a scoring chance.

For the most part I agree with what you’re saying here. Most of it is undenyable if you’ve watching the Habs thus far this year. That said, I disagree with some of the “trending downwards” players. In particular, Pleks. This poor guy plays his guts out all night, every night in every situation and until recently was leading the team in scoring. Kaberle has done what every othe new player has done when they go to a new team, fired on adrenaline for a week or two. I think he is still a 50-60 pt player on this team or any other. His defensive game was never his strong point and for me that leaves his game status quo, not going downwards. PK is playing 24 min. per game. You call that trending down? His offensive production is not where the Habs would have liked but it’s been a tough year for the whole team. Success breeds success. Late last year PK turned it up and scored some great points while playing huge minutes. I’m hoping that TREND continues.
For my money, I wouldn’t sign any of the guys you mentioned. I just don’t see the need with the group of forwards they have now….and their projected production increase. Oh, and I loved the Cammy/ Bourque trade. Bourque is bigger and goes to the hard spots on the ice. Cammy lost his edge after the preseason suspension last year. Good luck to him in Calgary.

******************************************
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

But Tomas Plekanec is not the same player he was last season. I don’t think that can be particularly disputed. I’m not saying that he is not a very valuable member of the team, but if we’re looking for culprits for the team’s sputtering play, Plekanec has to be listed.

Consider this season versus last season on January 25th:

2011-12: 49 GP, 10 G, 33 PTS, -11
2010-11: 49 GP, 16 G, 40 PTS, +10

In pretty much every meaningful statistic, Plekanec is significantly off his pace from a year ago. And most tellingly, he doesn’t look like the same guy either. I personally think he’s been wrestling with a back, hip or groin injury as he has seemed a bit stiff all season. And I’m not saying he won’t be back to his normal self in the future. But the team is struggling despite improvements from Pacioretty, Desharnais, Eller, Kostitsyn, Cole, etc. So somebody up front must have fallen off and the culprits are, in my mind, Plekanec, Cammalleri and Gionta.

As for Subban, I also agree that he was a beast in the second half. But that run started with a brilliant January…Subban had 2 goals, 7 points, 19 hits and 13 blocked shots in 11 games.

This year, Subban’s January has him with 0 goals, 3 points, 11 hits and 16 blocked shots in 10 games. And when you factor in the drama, nobody on the team needs to walk away from Montreal for a few days than P.K. Subban. Given the high expectations for the kid entering this season, I feel it is fair to include him in the trending downwards category as people manage their (probably unrealistic) expectations for Subban for this season.

You make a great arguement. But I have to side with Shiram (post is above) when he says” Works hard in all situation, has revolving door for wingers and still shows up every night.” IF Pleks is playing hurt, then I think it’s all the more reason not to include him. IF he isn’t, then I have to believe if he gets wingers that are going to stay with him to develop some cohesion, I think you will see all the stats you quoted go up….in a positive direction. And I’ll admit, I hate to see any bad press on this guy, from anyone. He’s just a work horse from the word ‘go’.

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Don’t take it the wrong way: Plekanec is one of my favourite players on the team. But I feel he has not been at the same level as last year, hence my label.

Going into this season, many had Plekanec pencilled in for 20-25 goals and 60-70 points. He is a traditionally hot starter that cools off in the second half, and his current pace would be considered a disappointment (16 goals and 54 points).

For the record, I like what RC is doing with this team. I like the make up of this team, mostly. I like that the wingers are big and the centres are small and talented. A big centre would be nice but unnecessary unless TP and DD production dries up. There was a time when the big centre was needed no question. In fact, a big centre would have made all the difference against Philly two years ago and against Boston last year. But the Habs didn’t have a huge set of wingers then, so I think they’ve turned the page on that.
I’m really looking forward to February and March for this team. RC is starting to get through to them and the team is responding. All is not lost but it is hanging over the cliff edge. If they can combine the effort from the last week or so with a new plan for the PP, look out.
Go Habs Go

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

I think Cunneyworth is still the wrong coach, he only has a half win record so far, no wonder his insistence on dressing seven d-men when we have among the smallest d-men in the league kind of goes against the last minute salvation inspiration/wake-up call whatever you call it, divine light that Gauthier saw which I’ve been saying since Gainey became GM/Coach, the habs are too small. If Cunneyworth really wants to win, he’d dress only the big players on the habs like the winning record where we had nothing but big players when Gomez and Gionta were out. The game where we saw Emelin hitting and Cole rushing the net was the magic formula, and again, like I’ve been saying since the lockout, the NHL is now a crash the net league. It was formalized by Bettman’s press interview last year.

Now I am saying Cunneyworth is the wrong man for the job if he continues to dress seven-defense and insist on a strong defense. We need a strong offense. We need big players who can fight back etc.

What we need from Gauthier is walk the walk if you’re gonna talk the talk. Stop dressing seven d-men when the habs need to win every game in order to get into a decent playoff spot. This year we could see many Canadian teams in the playoffs and that would be a boost for the NHL’s failing revenues, what with Winnipeg getting a team, this must not be good for the NHL to lose a market like that and have to wait a year.

The habs need to become the legacy again, this would help get more nights on HNIC and boost private interest in the teams marketing etc. Look at the benefit the whole NHL had when the Canadiens beat Team CCCP on top of winning a stanley cup. I doubt the USA market could ever again capatilize on the Philadelphia Flyers/Team USSR series. What the Americans see in hockey is Canada. If a Canadian team wins the cup you can bet there would be renewed interest in American broadcasters to market hockey as Canadian etc. Right now Bettman’s gamble is not working. All you get is payola hockey, which is not real hockey. You see referees making questionable calls in favour of teams that Bettman supports…..a form of corruption. Maybe it is time Canada get the NHL back and we move away from where the Bruins can basically bribe their way into a cup.

The problem is that we were 8 points out two weeks ago, so we haven’t gained any ground even though we’ve been playing very well. To have even a remote chance, we’d need a sustained winning streak, which the team shows no real sign of being able to put together. For example, a good game is nearly always followed by a stinker.

The next three games are all four-pointers, so if they can win those in regulation, I agree with you that they are right back into it. And if the Habs keep playing like they did against Detroit, then you have to like their chances.

I don’t see how he’s opting out of realism. How is it not realistic to make up 8 points in 33 games??? Much larger deficits have been overcome before and teams collapse(last years Red Sox) all the time.

8 points is not just 8 points we need to basically only lose 10 games out of our remaining 33…..yes it is possible but not very likely….so IF we can be one of the top 3 or 4 teams from here on out…sure it is possible but we are without Gionta and Markov. I am a Habs fan and if given a choice of us making a spectacular run and making the playoffs or finishing lower to get a better pick…I take the playoffs….BUT…given a choice between finishing 10th or worse 9th and missing the playofffs or playing the kids, getting something for our UFA’s..and getting a better pick…I choose the latter.

I don’t think Carey snubbed him. Lurch had his back to him when Carey was walking by. When Chara turned to to shake Carey’s hand, Carey was already four steps up greeting his teammates and never saw Chara behind him.

This all star silly stuff just goes to show how the NHL hockey fans are getting fleeced from coast to coast by the so called NHL.

There are only 12 to 15 teams in this league that can dress a quality product worth watching. And even everyone of them has 5 or 6 guys that are AHL caliber filling holes in the line up.

I am afraid this once great hockey game and spectacle we used to watch many years ago will never be seen again by the new generations. So very sad that the money spent on this so called elite hockey, is only half the product it once was. People are starved to see hockey played the way it once was and instead they are being fleeced with fancy marketing corporations.

Hockey today is infinitely better than any point in history, as is the case with most sports.

Players today are bigger, stronger and faster than their predecessors. Coaches are much more knowledgeable of the other teams; what was once quirky and ecceentric (Roger Neilson?) is now the norm. Scouting is better. Goaltenders are, in general, so much better than their counterparts (at least partially due to improved equipment) that it is almost laughable to watch a hockey game from the 1970’s or 1980’s. Condtioning is king; you no longer have players (including Guy Lafleur or Mario Lemieux) smoking like chimneys. After the near-disaster of the 1972 Summit Series, NHL teams and players began to take off-season training more seriously resulting in fewer players showing up to training camp 20 pounds overweight and having not actually skated for 4 or 5 months.

With the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the NHL can now access talent from Russia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia that was previously limited to those players that defected to the West.

Scouts are no longer eschewing players from Sweden and Finland as “gutless” or “chickens” like they did in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Think about it….Canada’s BEST players on the national team have lost in recent years to teams from Finland, Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic. There is 4 NHL teams worth of new roster players right there.

Throw in that there are more Americans playing the game than ever before and they are pouring money into their development programs and you see an influx of top young American players. Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Slovakia are also starting to churn out good NHL players. Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan…all producing hockey players that the NHL couldn’t access before.

No, the NHL is not weaker or more diluted. It is simply better. You mistake a weaker talent pool for parity. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is simply much smaller than at any time in history.

The “golden era” that you point to was more the product of ineptitude and mismanagement on the part of the rest of the teams in the NHL that allowed the Habs to stack up talent in a way that would never be possible in today’s NHL. That is probably a good thing, from a competitive balance point of view. It sucks for Habs fans, but is good for hockey.

With our desperate need to get a big center to compete in this league. Looking at our team I would consider trading Pleks. He is one of our only assests that could bring the BIG piece that we have been missing all these years. If he is combined with a decent prospect, such as Weber we should be able to get a very good player back.

Would anyone take a straight up trade of Pleks or Jeff Carter?? If it wasnt for Carter’s ridiculous contract I think it would be a no brainer because Carter would bring the size and goal scoring touch that we need from a #1 center.

I think we would look very good down the middle with Carter, Des, Eller and whoever…

I would do that for Kesler…he does the things Pleks does but offers some serious grit. They are very similar players in their two way abilities, pk, speed,etc…but Kesler has a little more attitude and is a bigger, younger body…given our overstock at d…as long as the first was for 2013 and not this years higher pick I would be all over that deal….and I am a huge Pleks fan. I am not so sure I would do it for Getzlaf….that would leave us with only Eller as a capable two way guy long term as both Dd and Getzlaf are playmakers and offense first guys…it would mean more and wheeling and dealing necessary in that case but Kesler and Eller down the middle we would be fine for any defensive assignment there is and have size and skill to boot. I would do it….never, ever gonna happen but in our HIO fantasy world…I do it…and I am as big of a Pleks fan as there is.

I agree Chris. Just about everyone wants a Carter or Nash – but the contracts are nuts and we already have one of those.
If Pleks – or anyone else – wants out – and I haven’t heard that – then look at a deal but we better be damn sure on what we’re getting back.
I cringe when I hear these about these proposed ‘miracle trades’ that usually mean giving up solid players and prospects to get that Big Scoring Centre as if once we have that player we’re a Cup contender.
Are we getting the most we can out of the players we have now?

I love Pleks I think he is a great player. If you were to rank all the teams #1 centers, were would he rank? Personally, based on scoring, which is what I would want most in a #1 center, I think he ranks in the lower half of the league. As #2 center he would rank near the top, but because the guy making #1 center money (gomez) produces points like a #5 center, Pleks has to be counted on to produce a lot of points like a #1, which is not exactly his game.

I just think that too many times this year the boys struggle to produce goals, how many times have they been shutout? 4 or 5?? That has to rank near the top of the league.

It has been said a million times we need a Big Scoring #1 center and they are few and far between. There is two ways to get one, we can give up very good assests.. pleks, subban, price, pacioretty or finish last and draft him. Or I guess you can get lucky and hoodwink a big mouth GM like Boston did to Seguin..

I don’t think it takes a great offer to get Carter. Columbus shot their wad and it failed miserably. I suspect ownership has now told GM, you better not lose me too much money this year.

Carter is an enigma, first there is 10 more years of 5.7mill per and a NTC. Then there is the fact that he seems to be a player that only plays hard when convenient. Him and Richards had their issues off ice in Philly, but at least Richards performed game in and out and season after season. Carter I am not so sure about.

But 10 Years!!! You really have to do your homework and make sure this guy is good fit, cuz his contract will not be motivating him for a long long time.

The problems with Carter ( contract, consistency, quitting on Columbus) have been well addressed in other responses.

But you also seem to be implying that the Habs can’t win without a big centre. Now that the Habs have above-average size on the wings, is a big centreman an important priority anymore? DD is emerging as serious offensive threat. Eller played an awesome game against Detroit. If he keeps improving he could be as good as Carter and will be much cheaper until he is a UFA. Plekanec is a consistent point producer, and he has shown the ability to shut down players like Crosby in the playoffs, which is an extremely valuable intangible skill. There are not many centres who can skate with Crosby and match his quickness.

If you look at the top centres on the top four Eastern Conference teams, Brad Richards, Krecji/Seguin, Backstrom, Giroux/Briere, there are no bad size match-ups for Plekanec. Its not like the Western conference where you have to deal with Thorton, Getzlaf, Kopitar, Backes, Arnott, etc, where there is the potential for a bad match-up.

I think the Habs are good enough to win up front. They need more help on defense right now to truly compete for the Cup. They have some nice puck moving skills on D, but they really lack a big dominant defenseman that can shutdown close games and play a lot of minutes. You can’t plan on winning 7-2 every night, although it would be fun to watch them try!

Carey! rocking it! Love the snub of Zdeno the barbarian. What else is Price supposed to do? Boston only won last year because Z broke Patches neck, otherwise we surely would have eliminated them, as we had dominated them all year. Not to say we would have won the cup, but Z would surely not be captaining the ASG. NHL is a farce, B’s cup is tainted. Good on Pricey for giving him a little grief, I hope some dim notion of why has just begun to wither him inside. Just hope he doesn’t take ‘revenge’ again now…

What point and purpose would that serve? Come on, man, going to a guy’s house like that? It’s that mentality that makes crashing Saku Koivu’s hospital room to get pics of him with his bloody eye gouged out an acceptable practice to some quarters of the Montreal media.

There is nothing we can gain by that type of guerilla journalism. It doesn’t make the team better, it doesn’t have any net positive to anybody outside of the team to know where Markov is at regarding his timetable for a return.

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GO HABS GO! 2011-12 is probably not our year!
“Scott Gomez, a potential Hall of Fame player, has two Stanley Cup rings and a Calder Trophy that says ‘I’m a player whom any authentic NHL coach will rely on to fix a game problem.’” – VancouverHab

I think that is Nova’s point, why can’t this organization at least update the fan base on his status. They did after all go to great lengths explaining how the scope was routine, scar tissue cleanup only and expect him to skate at or after All Star break. So here we are, they set the parameters that we should now be either seeing him or hearing about him.

If there is something newsworthy to report, it will be reported. If there is not, there will not be a report. It is truly that simple.

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GO HABS GO! 2011-12 is probably not our year!
“Scott Gomez, a potential Hall of Fame player, has two Stanley Cup rings and a Calder Trophy that says ‘I’m a player whom any authentic NHL coach will rely on to fix a game problem.’” – VancouverHab

The all-star game is nothing but a bunch of millionaires playing shinny.
The biggest joke was the year Brett Hull show up without a helmet.

TSN managed to parlay into another useless television event with their presentation of the players choosing sides.
Who will get picked last?
Oo-OO-OO the drama!
The TSN panel speculating who get picked first in a shinny game- LMFAO

Boone’s the lucky one – liverpool and ManU.

I’ll take ManU Boone-Sorry!

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“It’s just an opinion – I could be wrong”
-Dennis Miller

So the Habs get 4 days of rest. They return to Practice in Brossard on Monday. Isn’t it better if they do some practice sessions now and get a break on Sunday before next Tuesday’s game against Buffalo?

It isn’t too cold in the winter if you’re a real man.
There aren’t too many floods if you can swim.
You drink a lot of beer and the bugs don’t annoy you so much.
I didn’t have my first steak until morning coffee break, so that last one isn’t true.

Two stats that clearly show why the habs are where they are…the worst pp in the league that has not improved…the second worst home record which there is no excuse for..this is clearly on the players for not being ready to play at home..several times we played teams at home that played the night before yet we were outplayed…we should be a dominant team at home ..